Despite pleas that she not be separated from her two young sons, a federal judge has sentenced disgraced track and field star Marion Jones to six months in prison for lying about using steroids and a check-fraud scam.

The 31-year-old Jones also was given two years' probation and supervised release, during which she will be required to perform 800 hours of community service. She's been ordered to surrender March 11 to begin her term.

Last October, after years of vehement denials, Jones finally admitted she lied to federal investigators in November of 2003 when she told them she never used performance-enhancing drugs. She admitted that she took a designer steroid "several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after."

She also admitted lying about her knowledge of the involvement of Tim Montgomery, the father of her older son, in a scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged checks. Montgomery and several others have already been convicted in that scam.

The sentence completes a stunning fall for the woman who was once the most celebrated female athlete in the world. She won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

She has since been stripped of her medals and her name eliminated from the record books.